Applause! Applause! We've heard it for the chefs in grand and glorious detail. Many are icons, household names with cult followings. Their star status is deserved, yet where would those divas be without their sets?

Perhaps the stage, too, is a star, the setting equal to the performer. Sometimes, splendid as the food may be, the set even outshines the performer. And, sometimes they go hand in hand.

Consider Farallon, designer Pat Kuleto's underwater fantasy--a perfect backdrop for Mark Franz's sophisticated coastal cuisine. Kuleto started with an abandoned Elks Club. All that endures from that Twenties fun house is the pool's faux mosaic ceiling, yet that domed Turkish bath look is the punch line to Kuleto's whole Neptunian extravaganza.

Suspend belief, submerge yourself. Step under a scalloped awning into the bar where kelp-twined pillars glow from within and luminous jellyfish with trailing tentacles drift from above.

Interior designer Cheryl Rowley is a visionary too, albeit more subtle. Rowley dreamed of the fabled Silk Road and went on to recreate its ambience for the equally fabled Silks Restaurant, one of San Francisco's hidden treasures.

It was Rowley's idea to incorporate European-style carpeting, hand painted silk chandeliers, artwork, artifacts and rich textures in tones of cinnamon, persimmon and nutmeg as a stunning backdrop for Chris Floyd's equally fabulous culinary creations. "The décor elements combine Southern European and Asian cultures," she explains. "The elegant feel of the room is meant to inspire the senses." And, indeed, it does.

This is a place for grand moments and high adventures, an exquisite restaurant where the service is smooth as the name and where the best martinis in town are only the beginning.

The words, Ana Mandara, mean "beautiful refuge" and that's exactly what designer Aline Ho has created. Slip into the exquisite Vietnamese restaurant and you've entered a masterwork. Every seat is a good one with a new and different perspective. A combination of level changes, subtle textures and warm lighting results in an intimate atmosphere that softens the inevitable noise of a popular restaurant.

Ho's romantic creation, achieved by intricate carvings, antiques, fountains, and tropical foliage, is evocative of colonial Vietnam--a perfect foil for executive chef Khai Duong's modern Vietenamese cuisine. Ho's goal was to show her "country's deep cultural heritage and elegant traditional style." With the creation of Ana Mandara, arguably the most uniquely beautiful Vietnamese restaurant in the world, she's surely achieved it.

Eden's light toned, cheery ambience provides the perfect backdrop for the perennial party that goes on at Ed and Mary Etta Moose's place. Swagged arches separate the lively bar from the dining room. Mirrors reflect the movers and shakers not only of the city, but the world. The place is wildly popular and for good reason. It's all about great food, great jazz and great company.

Chen's collaboration with Van Dyne, just may have resulted in the most dazzling bar in the world, a backlit sheet of luminescent aquamarine against which some hundred bottles are silhouetted. The blue grotto effect is highly sensual, the perfect setting for dancing, listening to superb jazz artists--and possibly falling in love.

SILKS-222 Sansome St.; 415/896-2020

FLEUR DE LYS-777 Sutter St.; 415/673-3779

ANA MANDARA-891 Beach St.; 415/771-6800

MOOSE'S-1652 Stockton St.; 415/989-7800